1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for managing an operation of a plurality of servers that is booted up using a boot disk on a SAN, with a capability of performing a recovery from a failure of an operating server efficiently without fault.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique for making, when a failure occurs in a server constituting an information processing system and a service is continuously provided using a substitute server, work for replacement with the substitute server efficient has been developed.
For example, a technique for automatically establishing, when a failed server is replaced with a substitute server, an environment in which the substitute server can use data of a disk used by the failed server has been developed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-99359).
However, in an information processing system in which a plurality of servers connected to a LAN (Local Area Network or a SAN (Storage Area Network) provide a plurality of services, other than allowing the substitute server to use the data of the disk, it is necessary to make a physical wire connection with the LAN or the SAN identical with that of a failed server and inherit resources such as a network and a storage from the failed server. Thus, there is a problem in that it is difficult to switch the failed server to the substitute server.
It is also necessary to establish, on the substitute server, a software environment required for providing services covered by the failed server. Thus, there is a problem in that it is extremely difficult to surely establish, on the substitute server, a software environment constituted by a large number of kinds of software having a plurality of versions.